Category: week in books

Book of the Week

Book of the Week: Come as You Are

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It’s a new month – welcome to August everyone, and I’m back with another romance pick for this week’s BotW – and this time it’s one with an older hero and heroine and it made a really nice change after a run of early 20s heroines who read as really quite immature.

So our heroine is 46 year old Ashley, a divorced mum of a college aged daughter who is trying to keep her family’s ski hill going after the death of her father. When her mum springs the idea of employing men from the local sober living home for the season to help cut costs, she’s initially against the plan. But she goes with it and soon Madigan and his charges are moving into some of the staff cabins. Like the men who live in his home, Madigan is a recovering addict who has spent some time in jail. He went off the rails when he was guitarist in a grunge band and even spiraled even further after the band broke up. But he’s spent the last decade trying to help other people rebuild their lives the way that he has. The two are instantly attracted to each other – but they both have some issues to work through: Ashley has a cheating ex-husband who is trying to buy her mountain, and Madigan has walled himself off from relationships to concentrate on the men that he’s helping. Over the course of the skiing season they have to figure out what they have – and what they’re prepared to do keep it going.

This is the first book from Jess K Hardy that I’ve read and I really enjoyed it. I had some frustrations with Ashley’s mum and there were a few times when I just wanted Ashley and Madigan to have a proper conversation, but the romance is well put together, it’s steamier than I expected it to be and I’m enjoying seeing more older pairings in romance. If you read Cathy Yardley’s Role Playing after I recommended that this time last month, then I think you’ll enjoy this one. Obviously the outdoor life on the skiing hill is very different to the online world in that Aiden and Maggie meet in, but there are definite similarities. It’s also blurbed by Kate Claybourn – who I’ve written about here a fair few times too, so if you like her stuff, then also maybe check this out.

This one is in Kindle Unlimited at the moment, which means it’s exclusive to Amazon in ebook at the moment. Amazon claims there’s a paperback version too, but I haven’t seen it in any of the shops so I suspect e-book is going to be the way to read it. It also reckons it’s the first in a series, so I’m looking forward to seeing who might feature in a sequel.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: July 24 – July 30

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Finally I have got a book off the long running list finished! I was aiming for two, but I’ll take one. Not a bad week in reading all in actually – there are a couple on here that you’ll be hearing about at various points in the future – this week and beyond! I’ve got an incredibly busy week coming at me this week so we’ll see what that does to the list – but it’s also the end of July so there’ll be the stats and quick reviews so you’re all covered here.

Read:

The Empire by Michael Ball*

The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer

Come As You Are by Jess K Hardy

The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer

The Boyfriend Candidate by Ashley Winstead*

The Dating Plan by Sara Desai

Ruined by Sarah Vaughn et al*

Started:

Chopping Spree by Diane Mott Davidson*

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker*

The Crane Wife by C J Hauser*

A couple of ebooks bought and one paperback. The ebooks were beacsue I was catching up on samples that I’d got because they were on offer and I was worried the offers would end at the end of the month. And the paperback was an impulse purchase when buying something else

Bonus photo: another Morph model – this time near Liverpool Street.

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

Book of the Week, books, fiction

Book of the Week: Acts of Violet

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Yes, today’s pick is the book that I stayed up late to finish on Sunday night. I have a lot of thoughts about it, not all of which I can mention here because: spoilers but it still makes it the book I want to talk about the most from last week’s reading!

It’s nearly ten years since magician Violet Volk disappeared – in the middle of her comeback show. In the intervening decade, her fans haven’t forgotten her – even if her sister Sasha wishes they would. Now with the anniversary approaching there is a fresh burst of publicity – including a hashtag where people are posting pictures of supposed sightings and a podcaster who keeps asking Sasha for an interview. Meanwhile Sasha’s daughter Quinn is doing some digging of her own around the aunt that she idolises and risks finding out some things her mother would rather stay hidden. And then there’s the fact that Sasha has started sleepwalking again. Told from Sasha’s point of view but also through transcripts of the podcast, emails and articles, you follow the run up to and aftermath of the tenth anniversary.

I have a lot of thoughts about this book – and I’m going to have to lend it to someone to read it as well so I can talk about it with them because I can’t say everything that I want to here. But the fact that I couldn’t go to sleep last night until I found out how it all ended says a lot about how engrossing it is. Margarita Montimore keeps you guessing about what was really going on with Violet and Sasha and their relationship and like the magic tricks that Violet was famous for you don’t quite know where it’s all going or who to trust. I’m going to front up and say that I didn’t love the ending, but I don’t quite know what I think would have been better!

Anyway despite that, I’m really glad that I spotted this in Foyles the other week and I don’t begrudge having paid more money than I usually do on a paperback on it – because I enjoyed reading it and I don’t think I would have come across it if it weren’t for that copy misplaced in the romance section. At least I assume it was misplaced – it’s not a romance, but I can see why the cover and format might have confused someone into shelving it there!

It’s also available on Kindle, Kobo (and on Kobo at time of writing it costs even more than my paperback did!) and audiobook which comes complete with multiple narrators to fit the different sections of the book – I had a listen to the sample and it sounds really good. I suspect you’ll need a fairly big bookshop to get a paperback copy – mine is a large format international edition and you don’t see a lot of those around usually.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: July 17 – July 23

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Did I stay awake way later than I should have on Sunday night to finish a book? Absolutely I did. Do I regret it? Well yes and no: I’m glad I finished the book, I wish I had had more sleep but I wouldn’t go back and change it! For the rest of it, it was a reasonable week – a couple of books I really liked and then some I didn’t. Anyway, I’m about to hit a few really busy weeks – I’ve got a couple of nights out this week coming and work is very busy too so we’ll see what that does to the lists.

Read:

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer

Take the Honey and Run by Jennie Marts*

The Hollywood Jinx by Sariah Wilson*

For Batter or Worse by Jenn McKinlay

A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson

Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore

Started:

The Dating Plan by Sara Desai

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker*

The Crane Wife by C J Hauser*

Whisper it quietly, but I did not buy any books. I know. I’m as astonished as you are. I did however receive an order from Words and Kisses that I put in a week or two back so it doesn’t feel like I didn’t buy anything!

Bonus photo: the alpacas that I pass on the train every day. They’re my favourite part of the commute and I have tried repeatedly to get a good picture of them and this is the best I have managed!

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: The Neighbor Favor

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Is this the third week in a row that I’ve picked a romance set in the world of publishing or writing for my Book of the Week? Why yes. Clearly it’s as much of a theme in the genre at the moment as the ones where one half of the couple is famous. And of course Business or Pleasure had both!

Anyway, Kristina Forest’s The Neighbor Favor (yes it did bug me they didn’t change the spelling to the British English one!) has You’ve Got Mail vibes but manages to be a bit less catfish-y than a lot of those set ups feel these days. Lily’s sisters are successful over achievers. She’s stuck in an entry level publishing job in a genre that makes her miserable and with a boss that’s even worse. One night, a bit drunk, she emails the author of a little known fantasy novel, and to her surprise he writes back. This begins an email back and forth between Lily and Strick, who is a travel journalist and moving around all over the world. But then, suddenly, he ghosts her and she’s devastated. A few months later Lily is living in her sister’s apartment and meets a cute new neighbour, Nick. She doesn’t know it but Nick is Strick. Nick does figure it out pretty quickly though and tries to be the best friend he can to her – because he can’t be her boyfriend for: Romance Novel Reasons including but not limited to the fact she doesn’t know he’s her former penpal. And that’s as much as I’m going to tell you.

As you can tell from that, there’s enormous potential for this to go very wrong in the execution. But actually Forest pretty much pulls it off. Yes, I had a few minor quibbles, but it’s fairly minor compared to the throw-it-across-the-room-into-a-fire rage that some of the other books trying to do this have given me. Lily is an interesting character with her own share of issues, and Nick is an interestingly flawed hero. And of course it has plenty of bookish moments as well with Lily working in publishing and Nick being an author. Obviously, I’ve now read a bunch of similarly themed books and although I think if you forced me to chose one as my favourite it would probably be Business or Pleasure, this is still very good. And this is Forests’s adult debut so hopefully the start of more to come.

I picked the Neighbor Favor up for 99p on Kindle back in May, I think after seeing someone recommend it in the summer romance suggestions. It’s currently £2.99 on Kindle and Kobo and Amazon reckons there is a paperback, but I think it’s the US version imported because I haven’t seen it in the stores anywhere (yet at least).

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: July 10 – July 16

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Well, I didn’t make as much progress on the long running list this week as I was hoping, but hey, what can you do (Ed: have more will power perhaps) sometimes it just works out like that. I shall endeavour to do better this week, although it should be noted that I have a night or two away from home and that I don’t take hardbacks with me for trips (unless I buy them on them!) so that may impair things a little.

Read:

Devil’s Cub by Georgette Heyer

Ripped from the Pages by Kate Carlisle

The Black Spectacles by John Dickson Carr

The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest

Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer

The Twisted Claw by Franklin W Dixon

My Turn to Make the Tea by Monica Dickens

Started:

For Batter or Worse by Jenn McKinlay

A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker*

The Crane Wife by C J Hauser*

As pictured in Books Incoming, three books on a trip to Foyles to buy A Very Lively Murder, plus three ebooks.

Bonus photo: this week I learned that the new peat free composts can sometimes give you unexpected mushrooms. My dad tells me not to worry, but it did make me laugh!

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

Book of the Week, books, books on offer, new releases, romance

Book of the Week: The Seven Year Slip

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Back to summer romances this week – and for the second week in a row, it’s a new release!

In Ashley Piston’s last book, The Dead Romantics (also a BotW) she was doing a spin on a romance with a ghost. This time it’s a romance with a time travel-y element. What do I mean by that? Well, here’s the plot: Clementine is trying to get through the aftermath of the worst day of her life and try and rebuild in a way that means she can’t get hurt again. She’s living in her late aunt’s apartment and trying to keep her working life as a book publicist on track. But one day she comes home and finds a stranger in her kitchen. Her aunt warned her that the apartment was a pinch in time and it turns out he’s from seven years in the past. Ian is charming and he cooks and they get on really well – but how can they ever get around that time thing?

I read this in less than 24 hours and really enjoyed it. I have a few minor quibbles – putting them in the least spoiler-y way possible it basically boils down to: I’m not sure that Clementine and Iwan actually spent enough time together across the course of the book. If it’s a romance I needed more of them together, and if it’s more woman’s fiction I needed a better resolution to Clementine’s own life dilemma/crossroads. BUT this only started to bother me once the book was over and I started thinking about it to review it. While I was actually reading it I was completely swept along by it. So on that basis it’s a really enjoyable read – and makes sort-of-time-travel really work for me. I would happily have read another 100 pages if it meant my issues above got more closure. And I liked the little glimpses of some old friends from Dead Romantics too. Another one that is great for the beach/sun lounger.

I got my copy via NetGalley – but you can definitely get it in the shows because I saw it in Foyles:

And if you’re not going into a bookstore it’s also on Kindle and Kobo.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: July 3 – July 9

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It was British Grand Prix weekend this week and with Wimbledon going on too we’ve been treated to some remarkably changeable weather. The hot weather was so hot all you wanted to was lie down and read, and the wet weather gave you an excellent excuse to stay inside and read! Anyway, some good books read – and some progress on those long runners too…

Read:

These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer

Heir Apparent by Liz Evans

Like No Other Lover by Julie Anne Long

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston*

The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

You, with a View by Jessica Joyce*

Started:

Ripped from the Pages by Kate Carlisle

The Crane Wife by C J Hauser*

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker*

Several preorders arrived, and I’ve started writing the Kindle offers post so three ebooks bought (and the post isn’t finished yet!).

Bonus photo: a very gold statue in Birmingham on Monday morning on my way home from The Chicks.

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

Book of the Week, new releases, romance

Book of the Week: Business or Pleasure

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The summer release romance theme continues after last week’s Recommendsday with today’s BotW – the new novel from Rachel Lynn Soloman which is actually out this very day in the UK.

As ever, lets start with the plot. Chandler is a ghostwriter and after a disappointing experience at a signing for a book that she has ghosted for an influencer, she ends up having a one night stand with a hot guy she meets in the bookshop cafe. Sadly the sex is not as hot as the man and she chalks it up to experience and forget it as fast as possible. She moves on to her next gig – ghost writing the memoir of Finn Walsh – one of the stars of a cult classic teen werewolf show. It should be a step up for her – except that it turns out that Finn is her awful one night stand. Obviously Chandler’s determined to keep it all very professional but when Finn finds out that their night wasn’t as mind blowing for her as he thought it was, she agrees to help him out. As they write the book together they realise that they get on really well – but Finn is famous and Chandler is not, so is there any chance of a future for them?

Oh yes. This is a Sex Lessons but definitely no feelings/emotions book and I was absolutely here for it, because of course I am. Most of the book takes place as Chandler accompanies Finn on the fan convention circuit so there’s also a fair bit of forced proximity going on with this too, which again is something I love (see also Mrs Nash’s Ashes). This is another of The Summer of Famous Heroes but I really liked the Finn is terrible in bed twist to this one. And of course this does mean that the steam level in this books is H-I-G-H because of course what would be the point of doing this closed door. And having read Rachel Lynn Solomon’s other books I would say this is steamier than they are – which is not a problem for me, but I mention it for those who like their romances slightly more closed door. But I guess if you see a plot that is basically Sex Lessons for Reasons you should be expecting a fair bit of bedroom action.

And alongside all of that, Chandler herself is figuring out what she wants from life – with a bit of help from Finn. Before her one night stand with Finn, she was rejected as a romantic prospect by a friend that she’s had a crush on for years and she’s also very scarred from being laid off from her journalism job – which is what led her to ghost-writing in the first place. So along with the romance you also get to watch her figure out what she really wants and to build up the courage to go for it. And I do like it when the heroine has more going on than just a romance – and when thinks work out for her not because of the romance. And I hope that makes sense and isn’t too much of a spoiler. I did rewrite this whole paragraph because the first attempt gave too much away!

Anyway, I got my copy of Business or Pleasure via NetGalley, but it is out today on Kindle and Kobo and out on Thursday in paperback. I’m not entirely sure how easy it will be to get hold of – I don’t remember seeing Weather Girl or The Ex Talk that often in stores, but I think I have seen it in the Big Foyles and maybe also in Waterstones Gower Street. I will report back…

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: June 26 – July 2

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An incredibly Verity week – in reading and in life. I got a bit obsessed with the Sherry Thomas series and binged it instead of finishing some of the stuff I already had going, I went to a musical on the spur of the moment and I went to a concert to see a band I’ve loved for literal decades for the first time. I spent three nights away from home (two for work, one after that concert) and had a shocking time on the trains (the story of June on the commute) and binged a documentary series on Netflix. Standard stuff. And we’re halfway through the year now, so expect some half year review posts this month too.

Read:

Jingo by Terry Pratchett

Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas

Beguiling the Beauty by Sherry Thomas

Tempting the Bride by Sherry Thomas

Claiming the Duchess by Sherry Thomas

Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Soloman*

Murder in Piccadilly by Charles Kingston

Dressed to Drill by Kate Carlisle

Full Blast by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes

Started:

Like No Other Lover by Julie Anne Long

Heir Apparent by Liz Evans

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker*

Oopsie daisy, Words and Kisses is having a closing down sale and I went a bit nuts because: discounts. Six books there. And then another two paperbacks second hand. And then five ebooks too because I went nuts for Sherry Thomas. All the ebooks were in June though, so they’re already accounted for in the stats. The rest though…

Bonus photo: honestly, an embarrassment of riches on the photo front this week. I changed my mind twice, but here I am at the aforementioned concert – which was The Chicks on Sunday night – which was ah-May-zing. Truly brilliant.

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.